Jealous guy ... Laurence Olivier played Heathcliff in the 1939 adaptation of Wuthering Heights. James Howson is to play the lead in a new Andrea Arnold version. Photograph: Cine Text /Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar

Emily Brontë described him as a "dark-skinned gypsy in aspect and a little lascar" in her classic 1847 novel. Now Heathcliff is to be portrayed by a black actor for the first time in a film adaptation of Wuthering Heights after Andrea Arnold cast unknown James Howson in the role for her forthcoming remake.

The casting is in line with Brontë's conception of the character – "lascar" is a 19th-century term for sailors from India. Arnold reportedly sought out actors from the Romany community for the role but was unable to find an appropriate candidate. Producers also held open auditions and even walked the streets of Leeds looking for their Heathcliff. In the novel, the character is found abandoned as a baby at the slave port of Liverpool by Mr Earnshaw, who adopts him, so his ethnicity is uncertain.

Howson will star opposite Skins actor Kaya Scodelario, 18, who plays Effy in the Channel 4 TV series, as Cathy. Arnold, the Oscar-winning director of Fish Tank, is reportedly aiming for a rawer take on Brontë's tale of doomed teenage lovers, with actors the same age as the roles they are playing.

Key scenes were reportedly filmed at Moor Close, a desolate farmhouse without electricity or running water in the North Yorkshire moors, while nearby Cotescue Park will double for Brontë's Thrushcross Grange, home of the wealthy Linton family.

• This article was amended on 23 November, when Timothy Dalton and Ralph Fiennes' names were reversed